Monday, September 18, 2006

Crisis in Darfur

LONDON, Sept. 17 -- Demonstrators around the world staged a day of action Sunday to highlight the war in Darfur, a region of western Sudan where hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million have been driven from their homes.

In New York, a crowd in Central Park estimated by organizers at about 20,000 demanded that the Bush administration pressure the Sudanese government to stop the killings and displacements in Darfur and to allow a U.N. peacekeeping force to enter the country.

"The world must act and it must do so now because time is not on our side," former secretary of state Madeleine Albright said.

In London, Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders delivered a plea and said prayers outside the residence of Prime Minister Tony Blair, and demonstrators rallied outside the Sudanese Embassy.

A string of protests and events to coincide with a "Day for Darfur" were held in several other European and U.S. cities, in Canada, Cambodia and around east Africa. (washingtonpost.com)_________________________________________________________________This post ("Darfur Conflict") lists quite a few recent articles on the terrible Darfur crisis that awaits a UN peacekeeping force. the teach

2 comments:

SEPT 17TH: WORLDWIDE ACTIVITIES AWESOME! BUT WE ARE NOT STOPPING GENOCIDE IN DARFUR DARFUR VIGIL DAY 116 (now in NYC); 56 DAYS HUNGER STRIKE since July 4, 2006

It only took just one failed component, one failed component out of millions that painstaking effort had made right, to cause the searing tragedy of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. You'll remember that for Challenger it was a faulty "O ring."

The contributions of the many that led to a brilliantly executed September 17th series of worldwide events is something we all should humbly honor, praise, reverence and express our deep respect and gratitude for. I do. It was awesome. And a handful of truly heroic efforts took place - promoting/filling busses from Pittsburgh, Boston, Ohio, DC, All Parts Global…; logistics; PR.... Thank you and God bless your commitment.

What the September 17th teams worldwide did is absolutely necessary! But there is a faulty "O ring" in the Campaign to Save Darfur. SEPTEMBER 17TH, AND THE FOLLOW-ON EVENTS CONTEMPLATED AND PLANNED WILL NOT STOP THE GENOCIDE. And I have yet to have anyone prominently involved with the Darfur movement disagree. And I've asked. And I've received responses.

A crucial component is missing; a component that has been essential for every previous social-change movement. Stopping Genocide requires Monumental Social-Change - NEVER has genocide been stopped. N-E-V-E-R. Never. Not Rwanda, Cambodia, Kurds, Serbrinka, not 6,000,000 Jews.... Kosovo was far too late addressed to some degree.

What is profoundly missing is a Core Group of Leaders that anyone, EVERYONE SEES is heroically putting their skin in the game, standing up for, getting in harms way for, SACRIFICING PERSONALLY for Darfur. Name major social change that has ever come without this. Civil Rights? Apartheid? Stopping Vietnam War? Suffrage? IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED.

Unmistakable-Sacrificial-Leadership-visible-to-the-masses is the spark plug; the inspiration; the moral clarity; THE PROOF OF IMPORTANCE THAT INSPIRES COMMITTED ACTION IN OTHERS. Leadership of this kind, in sufficient quantity is - the price to Save Darfur. Until the "price" is paid, the genocide will not stop, no matter what else we do.

We can do everything else right (and these are NECESSARY): advertising, PR, rallies, celebrity participation, strategy, Sudan Envoys... but without the ignition, without the spark-plug we've got our "O ring," our efforts will crash in defeat, and 4,000,000 family members in Darfur are exterminated.

I have been begging for two years for such effort:9/23/04: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2004/09/radical_commitm.html; 10/17/04: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2004/10/jay_mcginley_ai.html; 8/11/05: http://rescuerestoredarfur.blogspot.com/2005/08/hunger-strike-day-6-pioneers-must-pay.html; 8/14/05: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2005/08/the_latest_from_1.htm; 7/11/06: http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/2006/07/call-to-battle-launch-all-out.html; 8/16/06: http://rescuerestoredarfur.blogspot.com/2005/08/hunger-strike-day-12-enough-radicals.html; 8/22/05: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2005/07/jay_mcginley_hu.html

So Jay, does all this make you right? What matters is: 1. Might it be correct?; 2. That YOU decide, correctly, in time. As Reverend Gloria said in NYC on Sunday, “It’s about T-I-M-E.”

Someone(s) cried out about the "O ring" long, long before the Challenger exploded. I'm sure of it. He/She/They were blown off as troublemaker, renegade, lone ranger, loner, outsider, not-a-team-player.... The Challenger exploded. All that is left are, regrets.